USPTO Patents Application 09666213

m United States Patent and Trademark Office

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Addrew: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450

Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.njpto.gov

APPLICATION NO.

FILING DATE

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.

CONFIRMATION NO.

09/666,213

09/21/2000

Melissa I. Dopps

WEYC1 16173

9095

26389 7590

08/12/2003

CHRISTENSEN, O'CONNOR, JOHNSON, KINDNESS, PLLC
1420 FIFTH AVENUE
SUITE 2800

SEATTLE, W A 98101-2347

EXAMINER

STEPHENS, JACQUELINE F

ART UNIT

PAPER NUMBER

3761

DATE MAILED: 08/12/2003

//

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

PTO-90C (Rev. 07-01)

Offic Action Summary

Applicati n No.

09/666,213

Examin r

Jacqueline F Stephens

Applicant(s)

DOPPS ETAL

Art Unit

3761

The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address «
Period f r Reply

A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE 3 MONTH(S) FROM
THE MAILING DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.

- Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1 .136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed
after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- If the period for reply specified above is less than thirty (30) days, a reply within the statutory minimum of thirty (30) days will be considered timely.

- If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C, § 133).
• Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any

earned patent term adjustment. See 37 CFR 1 .704(b).

Status

1)13 Responsive to communication(s) filed on 23 May 2003 .
2a)H This action is FINAL. 2b)D This action is non-final.

3) Q Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is

closed in accordance with the practice under Ex parte Quayle, 1 935 CD. 1 1 , 453 O.G. 21 3.
Disposition of Claims

4) Kl Claim(s) 1-14. 16-35,38 and 41-55 is/are pending in the application.

4a) Of the above claim(s) 49-55 is/are withdrawn from consideration.

5) Q Claim(s) is/are allowed.

6) 0 Claim(s) 1-14. 16-35.38 and 41-48 is/are rejected.

7) D Claim(s) is/are objected to.

8) D Claim(s) are subject to restriction and/or election requirement.

Application Papers

9) Q The specification is objected to by the Examiner.

1 0) D The drawing(s) filed on is/are: a)D accepted or b)D objected to by the Examiner.

Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).

11) D The proposed drawing correction filed on is: a)D approved b)D disapproved by the Examiner

If approved, corrected drawings are required in reply to this Office action.

12) D The oath or declaration is objected to by the Examiner.
Priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119 and 120

1 3) D Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 1 1 9(a)-(d) or (f).

a)DAII b)Q Some*c)D None of:

1 .□ Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.

2. D Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. .

3. Q Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage

application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
* See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.

14) D Acknowledgment is made of a claim for domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. § 1 1 9(e) (to a provisional application).

a) □ The translation of the foreign language provisional application has been received.

15) D Acknowledgment is made of a claim for domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. §§ 120 and/or 121.

Attachment(s)

1 ) |^ Notice of References Cited (PTO-892) 4) D Interview Summary (PTO-41 3) Paper No(s). ,

2) O Notice of Drafts person's Patent Drawing Review (PTO-948) 5) ED Notice of Informal Patent Application (PT0-152)

3) O Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO-1449) Paper No(s) . 6) d Other:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
PTO-326 (Rev. 04-01)

Office Action Summary

Part of Paper No. 11

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 2

Art Unit: 3761

DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments

1 . Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-3, 5, 1 1 , 12, 16-18, 38, 41 , and,
45-47 as being anticipated by Kenmochi have been considered but are moot in view of
the new ground(s) of rejection. Claims 49-55 are withdrawn.

Applicant's arguments regarding the rejection of claims 1 , 4-9, 11-13, 20, 24-35,
38, 41, and 45-47, under 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Ahr USPN 5733273
have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues Ahr does not
teach fibrous bands substantially free of superabsorbent material. However, Ahr
teaches the amount of superabsorbent in the fibrous bands can vary, and the fibrous
bands near the body facing surface can have 0-50% by weight of superabsorbent (col.
7, line 64 through col. 8, line 1 ). At 0% the aforementioned fibrous bands are free of
superabsorbent material.

Claim Rejections -35 USC §102

2. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that
form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:

A person shall be entitled to a patent unless -

(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public
use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United
States.

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 3

Art Unit: 3761 .

3. Claims 1 , 4-9, 11-13, 20, 24-35, 38, 41 , and 45-47, as best understood by the
examiner, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Ahr USPN
5733273.

As to claims 1, 38, 41, and 45-47, Ahr discloses an absorbent article, such as a
feminine care product or diaper (Abstract), comprising:
a liquid pervious facing sheet,

a storage layer (10, 310,410,510, Figures 1-5) comprising an absorbent
composite comprising one or more fibrous bands (12, 312, 412(A-D), 512) in a fibrous
base (14, 314, 414, 514). The base comprises a fibrous matrix and superabsorbent
material (col. 4-, lines 18-34). The bands are substantially free of superabsorbent
material (col. 7, line 64 through col. 8, line 1) and a liquid impervious backing sheet
joined to the topsheet (Figure 1 , col. 8, lines 40-43).

As to claim 4, the fibrous bands of Ahr are discontinuous along the composites
length in the machine direction (Figures 1-5).

As to claims 5-9, 1 1 , and 12, the fibrous matrix comprises fibers selected from
the group of claimed materials (col. 4, lines 18-34). Ahr incorporates by reference
Herron USPN 5183707 (Abstract and col. 4, lines 63-66), which discloses crosslinked
cellulose fibers for use in the matrix fibers.

As to claim 20, the composite comprises a wet strength agent (col. 4, lines 34-

41).

As to claims 24 and 25, Ahr discloses the density and basis weights within the
claimed ranges (col. 2, lines 51 through col. 3, line 3).

Application/Control Number: 09/666,21 3 Page 4

Art Unit: 3761

As to claims 26-33, Ahr discloses the fibrous bands comprise fibers selected
from the group of claimed materials (col. 4, lines 34-64 and Herron 707 col. 4, lines 35-
66).

As to claims 1 3, 34 and 35, Ahr discloses the absorbent strips can comprise up
to 50% of the total weight of the composite (col. 9, lines 58-60), less the amount of
superabsorbent in the strips (33%, col. 5, lines 13-16), the fibrous material (matrix or
resilient) in the absorbent strips can comprise up to 16.5% of the total weight of the
composite, and 50% or more of the base.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103

4. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 1 03(a) which forms the basis for all
obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:

(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set
forth in section 1 02 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and
the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the
invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.
Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.

5. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of
the claims under 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of
the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein
were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation
under 37 CFR 1 .56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was
not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to
consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g)
prior art under 35 U.S.C. 103(a).

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 5

Art Unit: 3761

6. Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Ahr. Ahr
does not specifically disclose the superabsorbent material absorbs from about 5 to
about 100 times its weight in 0.9 percent saline solution. However, it is old and well
known in the art that superabsorbent materials absorb up to and more than 100 times
their weight in saline solution.

7. Claims 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Ahr in view of Chan EP 0515750.

As to claim 21 , Ahr discloses the present invention substantially as claimed.
However, Ahr does not disclose the wet strength agent is selected from polyamide-
epichlorohydrin or polyacrylamide resins. Chan discloses a polyamide-ephichlorohydrin
wet strength resin for use in providing paper with resistance to rupture or disintegration.
Chan discloses the polyamide-epichlorohydrin wet strength resin comprises reduced
amount of organic-chlorine contaminants yet retains its wet strength properties.
Additionally Chan discloses the polyamide-epichlorohydrin wet strength resin does not
increase the stiffness of the absorbent medium or reduce its water absorbency as
compared to other types of resins (page 2, lines 1-22). It would have been obvious to
one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the wet
strength resin of Ahr with the polyamide-epichlorohydrin wet strength resin for the
benefits disclosed in Chan.

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 6

Art Unit: 3761

As to claim 22, Ahr/Chan disclose the wet strength resin can be added to an
absorbent medium in an amount of 0.1-2% by weight of the absorbent medium (750
page 6, lines 49-58).

As to claim 23, Ahr/Chan does not specifically discloses a wet strength agent
present in the composite in about 0.25% by weight of the total composite. However,
Chan recognizes the percentage can be varied and this will affect the wet strength of .
the absorbent medium. Chan, therefore recognizes the wet strength is a result effective
variable of percentage of wet strength agent added to the absorbent medium. It would
have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made
to provide the article of Ahr/Chan with the claimed 0.25% add-on of wet strength agent,
since discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine
skill in the art.

8. Claims 1-3, 5, 6, 9-14, 16-18, 26, 27, 38, 41, and 45-47 are rejected under 35
U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Fendler et al. USPN 4372312 in view of
Kenmochi USPN 5613962.

As to claims 1 , 38, 41 , 45, and 47, Fendler discloses the present invention
substantially as claimed. However, Fendler does not disclose the base comprises
superabsorbent material. Kenmochi discloses the absorbent material comprises
superabsorbent (col. 2, lines 53-55). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 7

Art Unit: 3761

skill in the art to modify the base of Fendler to incorporate superabsorbent for the.
benefit of increasing the absorbency of the base material.

Fendler/Kenmochi discloses an absorbent article, such as a feminine care
product ('312 Figures 1-5) or a diaper ('962 col. 1, lines 1-3) comprising:

a liquid pervious facing sheet 16,

a storage layer 1 0/1 2 comprising an absorbent composite comprising one or
more fibrous bands 13 in a fibrous base 12 (Figure 2). The base comprises a fibrous
matrix and absorbent material (col. 3, line 32 through col. 4, line 2). The bands are
substantially free of absorbent material ('312 col. 2, lines 1-6). The article further
comprises a liquid impervious backing sheet 14.

As to claims 2 and 3, see '312 Figure 6.

As to claims 5, 6, 9, 1 1 , and 12, the fibrous matrix comprises fibers selected from
the group of claimed materials ('312 col. 3, line 32 through col. 4, line 2).

As to claim 10, Fendler/Kenmochi incorporates by reference polyethylene
terephthalate fibers are suitable for thermoplastic fibers used in forming the melt-blown
microfibers of the coform layers (Fendler col. 3, lines 34-38 incorporates by reference
Anderson et al. USPN 4100324, which discloses at col. 7, lines 59-66 the claimed
materials).

As to claims 13 and 14, Fendler discloses the resilient fibers and matrix fibers are
present in the base in the claimed amount (col. 3, line 67 through col. 4, line 1).

Application/Control Number: 09/666,21 3 Page 8

Art Unit: 3761

As to claims 16-18, Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the absorbent material is a
superabsorbent particle present in an amount of about 5-40%, which includes the
claimed ranges ('962 col. 3, lines 4-10).

As to claims 26, and 27, Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the fibrous bands comprise
fibers selected from the group of claimed materials ('962 col. 2, lines 4-6).

As to claim 46, Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the backsheet is joined to the
topsheet ('962 Figures 4 and 5).

9. Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Fendler/Kenmochi view of Bernardin USPN 3525338. Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the
present invention substantially as claimed. However, Fendler/Kenmochi does not
disclose the fibrous band comprises chemically stiffened fibers. Bernardin discloses the
fibrous band comprises chemically stiffened fibers for the purpose of providing superior
wicking ability for fluids (col. 3, lines 1 1-23). It would have been obvious to one having
ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the fibrous insert of
Fendler/Kenmochi with chemically stiffened fibers for the benefits disclosed in
Bernardin.

10. Claims 42-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Fendler/Kenmochi in view of DiPalma et al USPN 5649916.

As to claim 42, Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the present invention substantially
as claimed. However, Fendler/Kenmochi fails to disclose the absorbent article

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 9

Art Unit: 3761

comprises an acquisition layer. DiPalma discloses an absorbent article comprising an
acquisition layer 18 for the benefit of acquiring and rapidly transferring liquid in the z-
direction (towards the core) ('916 col. 4, lines 44-56). It would have been obvious to
one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the
invention of Fendler/Kenmochi to include an acquisition layer for the benefits disclosed
in DiPalma.

As to claims 43 and 44, Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the present invention
substantially as claimed. However, Fendler/Kenmochi fails to disclose the absorbent
article comprises an intermediate layer interposed between the acquisition layer and the
storage layer. DiPalma discloses an absorbent article comprising an intermediate layer
20 interposed between the acquisition layer 18 and the storage layer 24 for the benefit
of rapidly wicking fluids and providing increased resiliency ('916 col. 5, line 59 through
col. 6, line 26). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was made to modify the invention of Fendler /Kenmochi to include an
intermediate layer interposed between the acquisition layer and the storage layer for the
benefits disclosed in DiPalma.

1 1 . Claim 48 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Fendler/Kenmochi in view of Karami USPN 457989. Fendler/Kenmochi discloses the
present invention substantially as claimed. However, Fendler/Kenmochi fails to disclose
the absorbent article comprises leg gathers. Karami discloses an absorbent article
comprising leg gathers. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213 Page 10

Art Unit: 3761

art at the time the invention was made to modify the invention of Fendler/Kenmochi to
include leg gathers. Doing so would provide prevention of diaper leakage and
discomfort, which Karami teaches is desired (Figure 1 and col. 1, lines 45-68).

Conclusion

12. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in
this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP
§ 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37
CFR 1.136(a).

A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE
MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within
TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not
mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the
shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any
extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1 .136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of
the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later
than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Jacqueline F Stephens whose telephone number is
(703) 308-8320. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00-5:30.

If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Weilun Lo can be reached on (703)308-1957. The fax phone numbers for

Application/Control Number: 09/666,213

Page 1 1

Art Unit: 3761

the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are (703) 305-3590 for
regular communications and (703) 306-4520 for After Final communications.

Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or
proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is (703) 308-

0858.

Jacqueline F Stephen:
Examiner
Art Unit 3761

August 2, 2003

WEILUNL0
SUPERVISORY PATENT EXAMINER
TECHNOLOGY CENTER 3700